The 26th Fungal Genetics Conference will be held at the Asilomar Conference Center from March 15-20, 2011. Approximately 900-1000 scientists and students from around the world will attend. A main goal of this biennial meeting is to promote the dissemination of the latest research on all aspects of the biology of fungi with a focus on filamentous fungi. Another important goal is to promote communication and collaboration between researchers interested in medical pathogens, and those working with plant pathogens, saprobic fungi and symbiotic fungi to increase research on infectious fungal diseases. A better understanding of the biology and interactions of fungi with their hosts and environment will lead to development of therapeutics to treat fungal diseases. The meeting will consist of four plenary sessions, four sets of concurrent sessions covering specialized areas, and three poster sessions. Topics areas of the four plenary sessions are: Genome evolution, Regulatory Networks, Growth and Reproduction and Symbioses. The 27 concurrent session topics include: Fungi that infect humans, Emergent fungal diseases, Fungicides and antifungals, Genome defense mechanisms, epigenetics and RNAi, Systems and synthetic biology, Cell cycle, development and morphogenesis, Stress signaling, ROS signaling and programmed cell death, Fungal effectors, High throughput methods for filamentous fungi, ChiP-chip/ChiP-seq: protein interactions with DNA, Biofuels and Bioenergy, Secretion, endoyctosis and membrane trafficking, Evolution of sex in fungi, Population genomics and Teaching fungal biology and genetics, to name a few. This meeting places a strong emphasis on the participation of young scientists and students, particularly those from underrepresented groups. Many have their first opportunity to present their research at a major international conference. Funds are requested to help defray the travel and participation costs of students, postdoctoral researchers and some young scientists, and will be distributed on a need basis. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This conference brings together fungal biologists working on most major fungal systems and promotes communication and collaboration between Medical mycologists, working on fungi that cause disease on humans and those working on plant pathogens, saprobes and symbiotic fungi. This interaction allows students working on fungi to find and pursue opportunities for research careers in Infectious diseases towards reducing the impact of fungi on human health. Fungi also serve as important model systems to understand human disease based on the presence in fungi of many genes related to those involved in animal diseases.